


Crashing Down

by Queenofthewigglers



Category: Invader Zim
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Council of Tallest, Deception, F/M, High School, M/M, Minor Character Death, Natural born smeets, Red Tries, ZADE, ZADF
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-10
Updated: 2019-10-03
Packaged: 2020-11-02 02:15:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,929
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20587619
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Queenofthewigglers/pseuds/Queenofthewigglers
Summary: Zim was fairly certain with many things in his life, yet when things start to not add up and secrets are revealed his whole life comes crashing down.Red knew that this was a risk, but he just couldn't keep living this way anymore. Funny how one phone call can send your whole life into a spiral and lead you crashing down.





	1. Chapter 1

It had been 7.5 earth years since he had started his mission on this dirtball backwater planet. He was almost ready to graduate Hi Skool. Of those 7.5 years he never felt more confused than today when he a) woke up meaning that at sometime last night he had fallen asleep at his workstation and b) still felt lethargic. Groggily he rubbed his magenta orbs before putting on his disguise. The same lilac contacts he always wore, but the wig was a different style than before hi skool. It was long, nearly brushing against his shoulders and laid flat against his head. He preferred it as it was easier to hide his antennae with, more comfortable too.  
"Computer, time"  
"7:37 a.m. sir, sleep well?" it teased. Zim pulled at the ends of his wig in frustration before heading off to skool.

He was three steps onto the hi skool grounds when he realized today would not be kind to him. Torque had immediately set his sights on the small alien. His hulking form approached, Zim instinctively flattened his antennae against his skull and bolted. Torque gave chase even after the skool bell rang.

However standing at a diminutive four feet, he was easily lost in the halls full of students. His first class of the day was math, he couldn't believe this pig-babies needed to learn such basic math calculations. It just gave him more time to scheme, even if it was one of the three classes he shared with the Dib-stink. Zim fidgeted with a piece of paper and pencil, trying to come up with some coherent thought for this planet to be quashed under his boot, for about ten minutes before cursing under his breath in his native language. His eyes had started to droop and Zim put his head to his desk; this class wasn’t essential anyways. The world went dark.

The next thing he knew the bell rang and Dib was standing over his desk. "I thought the Superior Irken body didn't need to sleep?" He goaded as annoying as ever.

"We don't! " he growled teeth bared in a dangerous expression "this class bored Zim so I manually recharged my pak," he replied lying easily.

"Uh-huh," Dib responded clearly not believing the Irken, "well see you in 5th period alien menace"

Zim grumbled, collecting his things. He noticed a distinct ache in his body. Nothing he couldn’t deal with just a strange ache that spanned from his legs to his antenna. He paused contemplatively for a moment before brushing it off and going to his next class. Or rather skipping his next class as he had gym and he had no need for worm-baby training drills, instead he went to the football field and sat under the bleachers. He started to scheme. The ideas that wouldn’t come just an hour before were flowing creating a beautiful picture of chaos. He was going to burn away all of this useless planets’ polluted water. He would have to tunnel close to the core to get the amount of heat he needed, but after looking over his calculations this would work. Just in time too as the next bell rang and now Zim had to sit through the useless history of this useless planet. How primitive must a planet be to only focus on their history? To have no knowledge of the rest of the galaxy in the lessons? It frustrated Zim. Zim had to admit though he was partially enthralled by some of the primitive bloody earth wars. 

“Turn to page 249 in your history books class” The male teacher-drone commanded. Zim never bothered to learn this boring human’s name. He turned to the page and frowned. Nothing interesting today just something about some earth organization called “NAFTA.” He yawned and put his head back on his desk much like he did in his first period class. When he woke up he found he had missed his fourth class, art, and it was now his lunch period. “Why did you let Zim sleep through 4th period?” Zim questioned the teacher.  
“If you don’t care about your education enough to stay awake in my class, then you don’t care enough to go to any classes. And I don’t care enough to wake you” The teacher, Mr. Brinner, Zim had remembered, shot back. He sighed slowly making his way to the courtyard where he would eat his licky-stick he brought. 4th period was his favorite, although he would never admit to it. 

Zim would be lying if he didn’t admit to himself at least that this tired haze that settled in on him worried the young alien. He would have to ask his computer to run diagnostics when he got back from school tonight. Until then he had to survive another horrid school day. He dipped the stick into the sugar powder, lifting it to his mouth. He sucked on the Irken snack with glee. He had to be careful with these however, he only had a few left with almost no way to get more. He savored his snack and he did feel more awake as he ate it.

Fifth period and its stupid human English only became worse with Dib-stink’s constant pestering. He refused to leave Zim alone. Even if Zim had wanted to pay attention to the book they were reading in class, he couldn’t with Dib vying for his attention. More glad than ever he didn’t have a reading part in whatever story they were reading this week. He thinks the teacher-drone said they were reading The Crucible. 

Suddenly he felt paper hit his head, looking down only to discover a crude airplane with a note reading: I don’t know what your game is Zim, but when I find out I will stop you. Lovely just more of the same. The young alien perked up when he heard the words “-to kill John Proctor’s wife,” spoken by Gretchen. He hadn’t been paying attention to the story but that caught him off guard. What type of books were the worm-babies reading? Maybe he should be paying attention. Just then the bell rang, signaling that class ended. Gathering his things he stood up and began his trip to his science class.

Zim enjoyed his science class, AP Chemistry 2 was one of his least sufferable classes. It was made even better when they did chemical reaction labs, it always made him think of new ideas. Today, however, he just couldn’t muster up the energy to care. At least they were doing unit tests, twenty minutes of work then he could try to figure out what’s happening to him. He set to start scribbling in his answers. Multiple choice? Feh too easy. Once he circled his last bubble he turned it in confident that he made no errors.

Onto more important matters: such as why he is so tired. He thought hard. Had Dib done something to him or his pak? He couldn’t remember that happening, but he had slept the night before, so it was possible. Perhaps he caught some sort of Human virus from the Pig-smellies. He shuddered at the thought. 

He decided right then to skip his last class of the day which happened to be health. It didn’t apply to him anyways. When the bell rang releasing his class, he left the campus and walked to his base. 

“Computer! Analyze Zim for any foriegn pollutants or illnesses!”

"Analysis complete Zim Karim, Age 17.2 or 172 earth cycles. Status healthy. Diagnosis: First molt. You are experiencing something similar humans would call puberty. You just get to miss out on the acne, and other hormonal changes. Congratulations."

"17.1 that's impossible! My memory banks put me at at least 22 cycles! Computer analyze my pak,"

"Pak readings Zim Karim, occupation: Food Drone, Age 23.7 Cycles,"

Zim pulled on his antennae none of this was adding up. First he got his own age wrong, twice apparently and for an Irken as young as him that is a problem. Secondly he was never coded an invader. Third of all and just as important he should have already had his first molt. His second one too or he would get it soon if his pak was to be trusted. It should, but he doesn't remember what happened during his first molt. Its fuzzy. How could he not even be an adult yet? Maybe the computer was just wrong. It was possible, but what if it isn't. A molt lasts about 3-6 months-

"Sir incoming transmission,"

"Dismiss it, I need to figure things out,"

"Sir incoming transmission from The Massive," Zim's eyes widened and tried to straighten out his antennae that he had been pulling on. No longer did they ache, now they were sore.

"Computer put it through," the small irken commanded. The screen pulled up the communication feed and staring back into Zim's magenta eyes were a single pair of deep red hues. Zim saluted him, his antenna at attention. "My tallest, to what do I owe the pleasure of today,"

"Hello, Zim I have decided that we need to talk,"


	2. Memories

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Red reminisces in the worst possible way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The names Rubex and Perx came from lovely Jackalu09. Check out her Tallest Zim comic on DA it's fantastic.

Rubex looked at his partner Tallest, the two of them barely holding up the empire. The stability of it having crumbled nearly two and a half Irk years ago and they were still picking up those pieces. Rebellions threatened every few months and though they have been able to quell them how much longer before- He stopped that train of thought right there. He sighed, wondering how their lives ended up like this. His mind wandered to the worst day in his entire existence. He knew he would end up reliving it for the who knows how many time. 

_Rubex paced his room tension heavy in his shoulders. The political climate on Irk had started to shift and it seems as if the 4 leaders were splitting into two separate sects. He couldn't believe it though, him and Purple had been best friends since they were smeets, yet he could not believe what the other had proposed._  
_Rubex turned to a picture of his mate, his beloved Miyuki and gently rubbed a finger along her face, eyes locked on her blue eyes, as if willing her to return home sooner. He needed her strength. She would know what to do, her mission with the scientists was pressing however. He frowned. Perx wanted to end the life of a smeet, his smeet because of its defective status.. Rubex knew he shouldn't protect any defective irken, but not to do so would mean the death of his own flesh. Zim could be reckless and dangerous when left to his own devices, but in the end he usually came out on top._  
_He knew what he must do, without consulting his beloved mate he would banish Zim to the recesses of the galaxy. Perx could pick the location of course to make him think he won. Rubex only hoped that the planet would be safe. Some backwater planet that no _one heard of preferably._  
Before that he would have to tamper with the small irken's memories. He would have to think he was a smeet like any other. Red went pale feeling ill at the implications. One day when Zim is Tall enough he could take his rightful place amongst the council. If there was a council to return to that is._

__

_So he began to create false memories and made them as convincing as he could. He probably should not be the one doing this, too much bias, but there had to be a legitimate reason to banish Zim. He constructed memories that would still include the young irken friend Skoodge. Rubex knew how dangerous it was to scramble the memories in someone's pak. Especially to a defective like Zim. It could only end so well. Yet he continued to save his only smeet. The only smeet he could ever have. These false memories would likely change his personality cortex to some degree. Maybe change his dreams and aspirations. He would be different as painful as that is to admit. He was halfway done when a smaller approached him. "M-my Tallest!" It squeaked nervously._

_"What is it?" He said eyebrow cocked. "This had better be important"_

_"It is sir," it replied quickly. Its voice becoming panicked "we just got reports from Vort._"  
_"Come out and say it._  
"  
_"There has been an accident. Tallests Blue and Green have-h-have been declared deceased as well as several others."_  
_Rubex's eyes widened in horror. His mate, his beloved Miyuki was dead. Zim was on that planet would he be among the casualties._  
_"How?" He demanded._

\---  
_Perx had taken the deaths especially hard. Unlike with himself and Miyuki who made it official, it was an Open secret that Perx and Spork were mates. For both of us to lose out mates in such a manner was unacceptable and heartbreaking. The empire itself is in mourning for losing two of its tallests. On top of that Rubex felt outraged._  
_Of course Pur was quick to pin blame Zim. Zim a teenage irken, and loyal to a fault. However Zim had been on Vort with Miyuki and Spork, and he did not have a sufficient alibi. He frowned deeply. Zim showed promise in science just like his bearer did._

"Hey Rubex are you there?" Perx asked with concern, gently grabbing the tall red irken’s hand.

The Red tallest now brought back from his memories frowned deeply. He was on course to lose everything and everyone he loved. How much longer could he keep Zim in the dark, between the food drone incident and sending him to earth Zim had already been banished for 2.3 Irk years. 

In a rare moment of affection Rubex traced the face of his co-leader with this fingers. “Yes I am here, I was just caught up in my thoughts Pur" he answered truthfully. 

“You can’t think about them, any of them. It will only bring us down. We have enough trouble as it is” said the Purple tallest with a dour expression. Rubex nodded along fully aware he would break his co-tallest's trust. He stood up and made his way to his quarters. 

Zim would find out about his past tonight. No more hiding it from zim. Rubex experienced too much pain to only share it with Perx. The red irken opened up communication with Earth. He idly wondered if it would be better just to delete his memories of the smeet and let Zim live on earth for the rest of his existence while the com-link was being set up. It rang longer than he had thought it would, but eventually he was face to face to the smallest invader.

Rubex kept his expression neutral as Zim saluted him, his antenna at full attention. "My tallest, to what do I owe the pleasure of today?"

"Zim we need to talk," The Red Tallest sighed  
.  
"Of course My Tallest," the smaller irken replied a little too happily for Rubex's taste.

"We've been keeping a secret from you, quite a few actually,"

The magenta eyes narrowed "tell me."  
The taller Irken sighed once again. He knew he wouldn't be able to just tell Zim. The small Irken just wouldn't believe him."No I dont think I will, I have a better idea."

Rubex punched in a code on his console, and a long snake like object connected with the smaller Irken's pak. "My Tallest, what are you doing!?" The smaller irken shrieked in surprise. Zim struggled as the first flood of memories flowed. He screamed as the terrible memories flooded his mind. These were the most important things zim had to remember, unfortunately they were all right before the initial memory wipe.

"My tallest! Please stop! Zim will never leave this dirtball! Just stop" he pleaded as he was confronted with the aftermath of Vort. "My tallest red, Zim can not take this! have mercy! Gir please do something," he cried out and at that moment the defective sir unit responded to his master's pleas ripped the cord in two severing the connection. 

Zim choked back a sob, then a murmured "You are no Tallest of Zim. Computer terminate transmission," were the last words Rubex heard before the connection was lost. He cursed. Maybe he shouldn't have started with such intense memories. Zim no longer trusted him, and the small irken didn't come close to having all his memories restored. The tallest head hung low. This would be harder than he thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those of you who didn't catch it  
Rubex-red  
Perx-purple  
Miyuki-blue  
Spork-green  
Only tallests can call each other by their real names. If an irken wants to talk to one tallest in particular they refer to the tallest by color  
The council of 4 ruling Tallest, each tallest is in charge of a certain facet of the empire which will be explored more later and overseen by the control brains


	3. Questions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the disaster that was the call with Tallest Red, Zim is left with questions and no answers.

Zim sat against the wall, knees pulled up into his chest, arms wrapped around his legs. His head buried into his knees with his eyes screwed shut. He wanted to be alone. He had distracted GIR earlier with television. After 72 hours he still could not process the information. 

"-im. ZIM!" A teenage boys voice shouted. Suspicion and a bit of worry entwined so deeply into his voice you could feel it dripping from the air. When that garnered no response he tried again, "ZIM! You missed 3 days of skool! What are you plotting alien scum?"

Zim slightly turned his face to the noise. He was sure the tear tracks had dried by now leaving no evidence. He eyed the intruder into his home, his head still resting on his knees. "Dib-stink what are you doing in Zim's house?" He asked mutedly. His usual voice lacking all vigor.

"Zim are you like sick or something?" Dib asked after a moment or so, clearly perplexed by his nemesis' behavior.

The Irken refusing to answer the question and would rather avoid it altogether blandly bit back, "get out of Zim's house,"

"Not until you tell me what you are plotting!" 

"Computer, remove the Dib-human from my house,"

"Certainly," the computer responds picking up Dib and tossing him out the front door before locking it.

Zim's mind replayed the events that transpired 73 hours ago now for the umpteenth time.  
_"Zim we need to talk,"_ feh some talk that was. Getting tricked, hooked up to his base and force fed memories that might not even be true.

_"Tallest Spork and Tallest Miyuki were killed in a Terrible accident. We know its your fault Zim just give it up" Tallest Purple accused. Those words continued to ring in his ears. He tried protesting, he knew what happened, he was there for Irk's sake. It fell on deaf antennae._

Then just like that he was banished by his own father and he was being blamed for the death of his mother. His father, Red no Rubex, refused to listen or stick up for the young irken. His father claimed his banishment was for his own good and to keep him safe but... Zim held his head in frustration two sets of memories occupying his brain. It hurt and it was hard to separate the true from the false. He felt sick to the spooch. The only thing he knew for sure is that he would never be able to leave this ball of dirt without risk of being decimated when he reached the outer atmosphere. 

He rubbed his antennae in an attempt to quell the headache throbbing in his head but to no avail. "Why did he do this? Why show me those things?" Zim muttered, no answer apparent. 

'Hi Master!" Gir greeted with the enthusiasm of smeet. Truthfully Zim felt glad Gir had came in when he did. Zim wasn't sure he could have taken another second of those terrible images plaguing his mind. He looked over at his defective robot that he had grown quite fond of and without a second thought or a first thought for that matter pulled him in for a hug. This sir unit, Gir was the only thing he knew he could rely on. His body quaked as the small robot returned his affection. 

"Awww it's okay Master" Gir replied with a huge smile plastered on his metal face.

___________  
He went to school the next day. If he didn't need to keep up appearances he would have skipped again. No matter where you are from being gone for 3 days is suspicious. A cursory glance showed he looked about as good as he felt. Dark green bags lay under his eyes, his uniform usually in pristine condition had been crumpled and wrinkled. 

Dib stood by his locker, looking for something. A book maybe? Zim stared for a moment before preparing himself to ask the human-smeet questions. "Dib-human" Zim asked cautiously, not even sure if he should have this conversation. Dib was the only one who could help him and Zim was aware of such.

"Yes zim?" He responded cautiously.

"You have parents right?" The rhetorical question heavy on his tongue.

"I have my dad, where is this going Zim?" The irken had not missed the underlying threat in the human's voice.

"Has he ever done anything for your own good that ended in you getting hurt in some way?"

"Besides working non-stop for the betterment of mankind and barely having any time for Gaz and I? He dismisses my interests at every turn because he wants me to pursue real science. What is this all about Alien?" Dib responded incredulously. His eyes boring through the small irken causing Zim to flinch. This information was not new however, or overall helpful in the young irken's situation.

Some part of Zim wanted to tell The Dib, but he held his tongue. It would be a weakness Dib would exploit or even worse Dib would no longer pursue him after this. He frowned continuing to dance around the subject. "Is that normal for parents?"

Clearly taken aback Dib looked Zim up and down for any hint of insincerity. There was none to be found. "Eh, not really," he responded truthfully

Mouth suddenly feeling dry the alien sucked in a quick breath. "And what about if a parental unit-" Zim's face fell feeling even more unsure of himself than he had before, "-dies," he finished slowly.

"Zim what did you do?" Dib asks dangerously. The irken flinched. 

"ZIM DID NOTHING" he shouted and then quieter repeated "Zim did nothing." Underneath the wig he could feel how close the antennae were pressed to his skull like they were trying to fuse to his head. His eyes began to feel wet. His arms which were now tightly wrapped around himself shook. With a whimper he repeated again "Zim did nothing"

Dib now utterly confused at the display, observed the small irken who if he didn't know any better he would say was panicking, but irkens don't feel panic. Did they? "Okay, okay, you didn't do anything. What's with all these random questions?"

That seemed to break the irken out of it. Zim now fully withdrawn gave his rival a sideways glance "you didn't Zim's question" he muttered before dejectedly turning to leave.

How stupid could he be? Of course Dib wouldn't have trusted him! This was a bad idea. He walked aimlessly; not really caring about the where as long as it was away from Dib. His feet led him to the filthy Earth bathroom. He couldn't find it in himself to care however. He stepped into a stall to wait out first period. The last thing he needed was Dib asking him questions related to their conversation. Math wouldn't miss him anyways.


	4. Itch

Zim had managed to avoid Dib for the rest of the day. He skipped each of the classes they shared and at lunch Zim had made himself scarce. He smiled faintly to himself working with the volatile chemicals in his favorite class.

Without warning Zim felt a faint prickle against his skin. The tingly itchy sensation that demanded to be scratched. Chemistry was dangerous however, and he decided to ignore it. He couldn't risk an unwanted reaction. He knew causing another explosive accident in this class would result in a talk with the principal and maybe the inferior skool counselor. There was not a force in the galaxy that would make him see the counselor. With every moment he ignored it the sensation got worsen. Many times he caught himself unconsciously going to scratch it. Irk why couldn't he control himself. The itch continued to build becoming painful to ignore. Roughly placing the chemicals he was working with down he began to scratch. The momentary relief exploded into even more itchiness as soon as a claw was removed. He had never felt so itchy before. 

The small irken was blind to the world, unable to see that Mrs. Campbell noticed his scratching, all that mattered was his itch. Suddenly he was grabbed by the arm, pulling the claw away from his neck. "You must have gotten chemicals on you. I told everyone how dangerous they were and it seems like you must have spilled some on your neck." 

"Wait teacher-drone, Zim was very careful with the mixture. Zim just has as regular Earth rash."

"Zim I know what a chemical rash looks like, and that is clearly one. You cannot fool me." She replied dragging the small teen to the emergency shower. Zim began to sweat. Why did it have to be today he forgot to bathe in paste? His frown deflated into pure despair as he remembered why he neglected his paste. 

He had nearly forgotten the events that brought him to this point. He barely had the willpower to drag himself to skool today. His life was perfect until that stupid transmission. Well that and this dumb as earth molt that he was going through. He was tossed into the emergency shower and groaned. He needed to stop zoning out like that. "Please, part of my skin condition is an allergy to-" before he could finish the pressure wash of the shower covered him. Every part of him felt like he was being boiled alive. Smoke began to rise off his form. He held his tongue, but wanted to scream so bad. He couldn't afford to go to the nurse like this. He would be exposed, and under no circumstances would he put disgusting human organs in himself again.

The water continued to blast him seemingly unendingly, the agony bringing pinpricks to his eyes. The water stopped. Thank irk. The next thing he noticed was the itch was gone. Replaced with the ache of burnt flesh. A linear move but at least now he could think.

"Your 15 seconds are up. Pack up your things and go to the nurse." 

"I'm sure that's not necessary," he ground out barely able to form a sentence. Irk he sounded pathetic. 

"Anyone exposed to these chemicals must go to the nurse afterwards."

"Zim would rather stay in class."

"Tough, you don't get a choice," the teacher said ending the conversation. The small irken grabbed what few personal affects he had at his desk, shooting the teacher a glare, before exiting the classroom. 

His luck seemed to be turning around today however, as not even a full minute later the last bell for the day rang. He got lost in the crowd of students leaving to go home, and covertly left the skool.

The garish green and magenta abode greeted the young irken as he made his way down his street. Despite the still wetness of his uniform, his pak did a decent enough job blocking out the pain of the water burns. Stepping into his base, he latched the door behind him. He peeled off and discarded the wet garments. "Gir!" He shouted.

"Yes sir!"

"I need you to find me something dry to wear."

"Okie dokie," the small robot oq with a salute before running off to irk knows where. With a sigh he removed his wig and contacts too letting them fall on the ground in the pile of discarded items.

Zim looked over his burns with feigned interest. Nothing about these were particularly different from any of the others he had sustained before he supposed. 

"Here you go master!" Gir enthused offering two pieces of clothing, one pink and one purple.

Zim took the offered wardrobe selections. As soon as he grabbed the. Gir wandered off. He observed his options, a ripped purple dress and the coat from his old man disguise. This could work for now until his uniform was dry. He stepped into the dress vaguely aware it was what remained of the disguise he wore when his delayed explosion blew up the city. It wasn't in too bad condition considering. It was much shorter now, but still a tad too long. He pulled the pink coat over his dress. He looked at himself. It didn't look too bad. Fix the dress up a bit and maybe this could be a new disguise. He glanced at his uniform again, with a frown. It reminded him of irk, of his parents, he had no need to deal with those feelings at the moment. He decided that once it dried out he would put it up. Just until he didn't feel quite so bad. With one more quick glance his heart ached. The incomplete memories it brought to the surface were nearly too much. 

"Computer remove this wet assortment of clothing at once," he commanded, vigor drained from his voice. 

"As you wish," it responded in a deep monotone. 

The young irken felt drained. The day had been exhausting. With little effort he found himself on the couch. Perhaps if the memories stayed away for a little while he could actually achieve some sleep. His eyes felt droopy, and he felt Gir plant himself right next to Zim on the couch. 

"Aren't you gonna eat something master?" Gir asked offering some sort of sweet smelling concoction.  
"I will eat tomorrow Gir" Zim responded. He would eat tomorrow, probably, maybe. His eyes fluttered shut. The activity around his base keeping him grounded enough that he could fall asleep. Nothing, however could protect him from his dreams that swirled in his head later that night. 

_He was alone on Vort it seemed. Strange usually this planet was teeming with life. Especially the labs. The whole planet was dead silent and empty. Not a single vortian or irken scientist or even the little native vermin were anywhere to be found. Then the sound of crackling flames, and screaming. _

_"My smeet," a voice chimed. Zim turned around and on the ground was the beautiful blue Tallest Miyuki. "My smeet, why did you do this to me?"_

_"Zim didn't- Zim did nothing!" He shrieked. _

_"Of course you did, my beautiful smeet" she said accusingly as her face began to burn and decay in front of the irken teen. _

_"You murderer!" A second voice joins. Eyes widening zim turned around again to see Tallest Purple cradling Tallest Green. "You killed them Zim."_

_"No-no Zim did nothing!"_

_Suddenly he was on earth. The corpses of Miyuki and Spork still on the ground. The purple tallest stood. "If you were really innocent you wouldn't be banished then"_

_"Zim is innocent" he sobbed._

The irken awoke with a start tears staining his cheeks. The base was dark. The only light filtered in through the television. It must still be night time. "C-computer," he choked out, "what time is it"

"It is 12:15 am" it responded no hint of sarcasm in its speech. Zim frowned. It was going to be a long night.


	5. Into the mind of Rubex

Rubex stared blankly out one of the windows on the massive. Zim hadn't contacted them since the incident and the red tallest was getting worried. Zim wasn't really going to forsake the empire was he? Would he even gonna give the tallest a chance? Would they ever have a parent child relationship again?

"You've been acting strange, did something happen" Perx interrupted his train of thought.

"No Pur, everything is fine. Just thinking about my smeet is all" Rubex lied. He had risked so much with that call and probably alienated Zim forever. He can't lose Perx too. The purple eyed tallest was all he had left. 

"Well you should put him out of your mind. He's been banished, and unless he reaches the height threshold to join the council," his voice faltered trailing off before he took a breath and started again. "or what's left of it, he is not gonna be coming back," His companion asserted. 

The red eyed irken frowned. Perx played a significant role in getting his smeet banished. He knew the only reason Perx acted so coldly to his smeet is that he never had an opportunity for one of his own.Yet the blatant hatred stung. Breeding had been banished a year after his son was born, after the control brains saw how much time that Miyuki and he now occupied taking care of their child. It took too much time away from advancement and conquest, so all smeets were to come from smeeteries and not know their genetic forebears. 

Spork and Perx never had the opportunity, their breeding capabilities were turned off at the same time everyone's were. That said the purple eyed tallest could have attempted to accept the smeet. Rubex was well aware a piece of him holds a deep seated resentment for the banishment. While he loves his co-tallest their bond will never be as strong as the one he shared with Miyuki. 

He felt a hand on his cheek. His eyes flicked up and saw his partner gently caressing him. "You zoned out again Rubex, do you need to take some time off?" Perx asked tenderly. 

"I think," Rubex took the moment to articulate his words "that would be for the best," he finally responded.

"Then let's go somewhere for the week and if anyone needs us I will take care of it"

The red tallest nodded "why don't you go get that arranged while I stay here and pack."

"That's a great idea, if you need me you know how to call for me."

Rubex watched his partner leave and scrambled for his screen. He started hitting coordinates, dialing the Earth stranded irken. He waited as computer dialed his smeet. It was taking quite a bit longer than normal to reach him. After a few minutes the call timed out. Deliberately ignored. Maybe he wasn't at his base and it was just a mistake. His frown now deepened he set out to pack what he would need for a week away from the massive.

He didn't pack much, just his picture of him and Miyuki and a bunch of snacks. He had no need for anything else. Pur would be back soon so he wouldn't be able to try to call Zim again. Maybe a week without a way to contact him, a week of distractions from the situation is just what Rubex needed. 

Life was so much easier before Miyuki went to Vort. It had been practically perfect before and now it felt like it was falling apart. Ever since her death he felt like he was headed in a downhill spiral. Pur is the only constant left in his life. The only one there for him, but he knew he risked it, by making Zim aware or partially aware of where he came from. If Pur ever found out, he would lose the last person in his life. Maybe if he kept reaching out to Zim, it wouldn't be just Pur. He smiled to himself, now full of resolve. When they get back he is gonna keep trying to reach his smeet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the short chapter. I had a real hard time writing this one.


End file.
